ABSTRACT
Imidazo[1,2-a] pyridine is one of the pharmaceutically important scaffolds and has been widely studied due to its extensive biological activities. In this work, electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) in positive mode was used to study the gas-phase fragmentation behavior of a series of 3-phenoxy imidazo[1,2-a] pyridines. Proposed fragmentation pathways were supported by ESI-MS/MS data and computational thermochemistry. Homolytic cleavage of the 3-phenoxy C-O bond was the characteristic fragmentation of 3-phenoxy imidazo [1,2-a] pyridines. The eliminations of the one substituted phenoxy radical and CO produced other diagnostic ions for 3-phenoxy imidazo [1,2-a] pyridines, which were useful to identify the 3-phenoxy group and imidazo [1,2-a] pyridine scaffold. The results contribute to the further understanding of the gas-phase fragmentation of 3-phenoxy imidazo [1,2-a] pyridines and the identification of other analogs using tandem mass spectrometry techniques.
